the “dopamine parties” where matcha is drunk, poke is eaten and alcohol is prohibited

A nightclub, during the day, without alcohol, full. It’s the kind of image that until recently would have seemed extraordinary. However, the fact that more and more city life includes healthy and alcohol-free options leads to the creation of leisure plans that mimic nighttime ones, but in abstemious mode. A few days ago, in Madrid, one of these plans brought together 700 people. What happened. On Saturday, March 28, 2026, the Fitz Club in Madrid (a space on Princesa Street originally designed to operate from midnight to six in the morning, with an LED dome and all the usual gadgets in nightclubs) opened at eleven in the morning. Inside, 700 people danced without alcohol in a party that ended at four in the afternoon. The event was covered by international media, but it is not something we invented here. Whose idea was it? The party was organized by Revel, a community founded by Rafael Aguayo that started as a runners’ club and evolved into something more difficult to classify. Your Instagram profile defines it as “the purpose driven movement”: real dopamine experiences with unprocessed food, electronic music, ice baths and promoting social contact. This recent Revel Party, with admission at 15 euros, included a prior running session, DJs, healthy food and a tattoo corner. And without a bar, of course, comparable to coffee party phenomenon or the daytime ravesbut with more sweat. The London precedent. Morning Gloryville was born in London in 2013 as a morning rave for those who wanted to start the day with energy and who would soon expanded to New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Sydney and Montreal before arriving in Spain. In Seoul, the matcha raves They start at seven in the morning with tickets of about 14 dollars in exchange for a party without alcohol and caffeine, among many other variants. For example, in Paris, the collective Bakery Session has been filling bakeries with DJs and croissants for years. In the United Kingdom, the historic Ministry of Sound announced its first series of raves alcohol-free daytime in 2025. Increasingly. What has changed in the last two years is that these parties are becoming more frequent. Events accompanied by low or no alcohol They grew globally by 73% between January and September 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. Alcohol-free clubbing is definitely on the rise. Spain drinks, Spain takes drugs. Spain’s relationship with alcohol has functioned for decades as part of the basic social fabric. However, there are statistics that are beginning to change: 53% of young people between 18 and 30 years old recognize have reduced consumption. The Ministry of Agriculture registers a sustained decline in sales of spirits. Being teetotal is fashionable. Because the change is not only in volume, but in identity. Generation Z is incorporating sobriety into its public image in a way that previous generations have rarely known. On Tinder, the trend of not drinking on first dates gains weight among the youngest. More Revel. The dominant age group at Revel events ranges from 24 to 32 yearsin line with this generational change. Admission to the Revel Party x Fitz cost 15 euros. For a party that does not bill at the bar, the business model relies entirely on the entrance and the community image, which raises a question with no easy answer: to what extent can this format grow without becoming an aspirational event. In Xataka | The end of the open bar: how weddings are leaving behind their only ‘collective consolation’

We thought matcha tea was just an internet fad. Science has seen that it “hacks” our brain against allergies

He matcha tea is beginning to be a standardized drink among many people who need get up with one in your handslike those of us who need coffee to wake up. Something that has also been accompanied by the opening of a large number of establishments specialized in its production. And although for many people it may seem like a joke or an expensive fad promoted by internet gurus and people closest to Eastern countries, the truth is that it has a large number of benefits that do not stop growing. Its component. Matcha tea hides a biochemical profile that far exceeds that of conventional green teaand the key lies in how it is grown and consumed. Precisely by ingesting the whole powdered leaf, we get a very high concentration of EGCG (epigallocatechin gelato), L-theanine and caffeine. Its benefits. One of the most important is that we are facing a great antioxidantand in this way studies suggest that matcha drastically reduces oxidative stress and key inflammatory markers such as IL-6. In fact, in some trials, its ability to restore cellular homeostasis exceeds that of vitamin C. Additionally, the synergy between caffeine and L-theanine is the real productivity “trick.” Daily consumption has been shown to moderate fatigue and improve spatial learning and, in addition, upregulates the brain-derived neurotrophic factorwhich enhances memory without altering the sleep cycle. Metabolic impact. In high-fat diet models, matcha suppresses weight gain and fat accumulation in the liver. In humans, trials show better glycemic control and an improvement in the lipid profile, lowering ‘bad’ cholesterol (bad in many quotes) and raising good cholesterol. Its role in allergies. As if all this were not enough, a recent study published at the beginning of this month of March has put an unexpected finding on the table: matcha can be an ally against allergic rhinitis. Something that is welcomed with open arms right this spring where a very tough allergic season is expected. In this case, the team led by Osamu Kaminuma, from Hiroshima University, administered oral doses of matcha of 250 mg/kg to sensitized mice. The result was a significant suppression of allergen- and histamine-induced sneezing. Its mechanism. Here matcha did not alter the traditional immune system, which is the one that detects an allergen as an ‘enemy’ and wants to eliminate it at all costs. What it did was suppress neuronal activity in the brain stem, directly blocking the sneeze reflex on a neurological level. Although confirmatory trials in humans are still lacking, and it opens the door to fascinating non-pharmacological clinical use. There are several types. Not all matchas are the same, and you should always opt for the ceremonial quality grade, since it is first harvest, stone ground, bright green in color and with a large amount of antioxidants. In addition, authentic Japanese origin guarantees quality, and you should also avoid those that have been industrially processed. Images | Jason Leung In Xataka | The tea that was born to stop time now runs against it: the matcha crisis in Japan

The world wants more and more matcha tea. The problem is that Japan is not being able to give it to him

For centuries Matcha tea It has been one of the most recognizable symbols of Japanese culture. Now is that and something else: a drink popularized by social networks and coveted in the international market to such an extent that, in Japan itself, there are stores that have been forced to limit sales by customer. The world is thirsty for Matcha. Increasingly. And that has triggered a deep imbalance in the market that will not be easy to correct in the short term. The big question is … why? Limited purchases. The market of Matchaa popular Japanese powder tea that is made with Técha leaves And it stands out for its bright green color, faces a complicated scenario: a considerable (and growing) decoupling between the supply and demand that has even led some suppliers to limit the amount of product they sell to their customers. Recently Nikkei Asia He spoke of online stores without stock or UJI and Kyoto stores in which only a single Matcha product per day is allowed to acquire. Nothing else. “Due to the strong and continuous increase in the demand for products in recent months, the current demand has already exceeded our production capacity,” Recognize The store Marukyu Koyamaen In a message posted on its website. “This translates into an extremely low inventory of all Matcha products at this time.” If the scenario were not complex in itself, it is added that there are producers who want to prevent their historical clients, such as temples, sanctuaries and places where the drink is used for ceremonial purposes, they are left short. A figure: 4,176 tons. The figures always help to better understand trends. And that of the Matcha boom is no exception. Although throughout the last decades the consumption of green tea and Matcha has been losing bellows in Japan, its success among foreign consumers has triggered the production of the ground TE. If in 2010 the country produced 1,471 tonsin 2023, according to the data of the Ministry of Japanese Agriculture (Maff), that volume had shot up to the 4,176 tons. Almost triple. The Japan Times Precise In addition, in the last five years, the sector has experienced a key change, orient more and more towards the international market: today more than half of the Japanese matcha ends up exporting. In general Nikkei Calculate That last year the flow of green tea exports reached 8,798 tons, ten times more than a couple of decades ago. Of that volume, powder tea, especially Matcha, represented more than half. The reflection in prices. The increase in demand has not long to move to prices, which draw an upward curve. After years down, the value of the tancha began to rebound after the pandemic and It has been consolidating little by little. In early May the Japanese newspaper The Asashi Shimbun revealed That, in the first auction of the year of green tea held at the Ja Zen-Noh Kyoto distribution center, the kilo reached an average of 8,235 yen, almost 67 dollars and 1.7 times more than a year ago. The value far exceeds the previous record, of 2016. Looking out of Japan. Interestingly, matcha fever comes after decades in which both the consumption of powdered tea and green tea in general has been losing strength In Japan’s households, which also explains that has decreased production. The causes of their renewed boom must be sought beyond, in an international demand that According to some analysts It moves to historical maximums. Only American buyers absorbed in 2024 44% of shipments International TEA powder. Second, quite a distance, Germany and Malaysia are. There are estimates that calculate that Matcha’s world market will be around 5,000 million of dollars in 2028, a more than considerable amount if one takes into account that in 2023 it stood at 2.8 billion. “In spite He recounts in Bloomberg K. Oanh ha. What is that boom? There is not a single factor that explains the growing world thirst for Matcha. When analyzing the phenomenon, analysts usually point out a key: the visibility it has reached in networks, both for its photogenic bright green hue and by the videos and comments that extol their health benefits, a message that seems to have penetrated above all After the pandemic. To that growing interest are added the changes in the consumption of the Matcha, which has ceased to be an exclusive drink of homemade ceremonies and meetings to join bottled drinks or even accompany chocolates and ice cream. And why not grow anymore? The tancha production has grown over the last years, expanding beyond the traditional areas of Japan. In addition, their farmers have seen how new competitors from China and South Korea arrived. So … why not that mismatch between supply and demand is not remedied? The key is in the limitations that the sector itself is found to expand its crops. The country has land, but plantations are not created overnight. It takes years In being lists and tancha leaves need to pass a storage and processing phase. Especially if farmers want to wear stone mills. The sector is not alien to the shortage of collectors and the lack of generational relief in a country that dealt with a serious birth crisis. Either to A record tourism flow that further tense demand. With that backdrop, farmers also face a fear that complicates the investments in the plantations: that the Matcha boom stays alone in that, a punctual fashion. Images | Matcha & Co (UNSPLASH) and T.TSeg (Flickr) In Xataka | Japan’s economy depends more and more on a very Japanese phenomenon: fans absolutely delivered to its idols

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